M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The people who returned to Jerusalem
9 All the Israelites' names were included in the lists of their ancestors. Those lists are written in the history book about Israel's kings.
The people of Judah had turned away from the Lord. Their enemies took them away to Babylon as their prisoners. 2 The first people who returned to their home towns after that were some priests, Levites, servants in the temple and other Israelites.
3-4 Some people from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh lived in Jerusalem.
Those people included: Uthai, son of Ammihud and grandson of Omri. Omri was Imri's son. Imri was Bani's son. Bani was a descendant of Judah's son, Perez.
5 From the clan of Judah's son Shelah, there were Asaiah and his sons. Asaiah was the oldest son in his family.
6 From the clan of Judah's son Zerah, there was Jeuel.
There were 690 people from Judah's tribe who returned.
7 From Benjamin's tribe, there was: Sallu, the son of Meshullam and grandson of Hodaviah, who was Hassenuah's son. 8 There was also Jeroham's son Ibneiah, Elah the son of Uzzi and grandson of Mikri's, and Meshullam, son of Shephatiah and grandson of Reuel, who was Ibnijah's son.
9 There were 956 people from Benjamin's tribe who returned. Their names are written in the lists of their ancestors. All those men were leaders of their clans.
The priests who returned
10 The priests who returned to live in Jerusalem were: Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, Jakin and Azariah.[a] 11 Azariah was Hilkiah's son. Hilkiah was Meshullam's son. Meshullam was Zadok's son. Zadok was Meraioth's son. Meraioth was Ahitub's son. Ahitub was the most important officer in God's temple. 12 There was also Adaiah, the son of Jeroham and grandson of Pashhur, who was Malkijah's son. And there was Maasai, the son of Adiel and grandson of Jahzerah. Jahzerah was Meshullam's son. Meshullam was Meshillemith's son, and Meshillemith was Immer's son.
13 There were 1,760 priests and their relatives who returned. They were leaders of their clans. They were able to do their jobs well as they served God in his temple.
The Levites
14 From the Levites, there were: Shemaiah, the son of Hasshub and grandson of Azrikam, who was Hashabiah's son. Hashabiah belonged to Merari's clan. 15 There was Bakbakkar, Heresh, Galal and Mattaniah, the son of Mica and grandson of Zikri, who was a descendant of Asaph. 16 There was also Obadiah, the son of Shemaiah and grandson of Galal, who was Jeduthun's son. And there was Berekiah, the son of Asa and grandson of Elkanah. Elkanah had lived in the villages of the Netophath people.
Levites who were temple guards
17 The Levite guards at the gates of the temple were: Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman and their relatives. Shallum was their leader. 18 Those guards stood at the King's Gate on the east side of the temple.
19 Shallum was the son of Kore and grandson of Ebiasaph, who belonged to Korah's clan. Shallum and his relatives from Korah's clan were guards at the entrance of the Lord's Holy Place. Their ancestors had also been guards at the entrance of the Lord's special tent. 20 Eleazar's son Phinehas had been the leader of the guards at one time. The Lord was with Phinehas to help him. 21 Meshelemiah's son Zechariah was also a guard at the entrance of the tent where the Lord met with his people.
22 There were 212 guards for the gates of the temple. Their names were written in the lists of their ancestors, for each village where they lived. King David and the prophet Samuel had chosen their ancestors to do this important work as guards. 23 Those men and their descendants had to stand as guards at the gates of the Lord's Holy Place, which had been a special tent. 24 The guards stood on the four sides of the Lord's house: the east, west, north and south sides. 25 Their relatives lived in their villages. They came to Jerusalem to help with the work as guards. Each time that they came, they worked there for seven days. 26 There were four faithful Levite guards who led the work. They kept safe the rooms in God's house where they stored valuable things and money. 27 They stayed at their places around God's house during each night. It was their work to keep it safe. Each morning they would use their key to open the gates.
28 Some of the guards kept safe the valuable things that the priests used when they served the Lord. The guards counted those things when the priests brought them in. They counted them again when the priests took them out.
29 Some other guards kept safe the tools and the valuable things that were in the Holy Place. Some guards took care of the flour, wine, olive oil, incense and spices. 30 But it was the work of some of the priests to mix the spices. 31 Mattithiah was a Levite who belonged to Korah's clan. His work was to prepare the bread that they used as offerings. 32 Other Levites who belonged to Kohath's clan prepared the bread for the special table. The priests put this bread on the special table in the Holy Place each Sabbath day.
33 Some of the Levites were musicians in the temple. The leaders of those clans lived in rooms at the temple. They needed to do their work as musicians during the night, as well as during the day. So they did not have other jobs to do in the temple. 34 Those men were the leaders of the Levite clans. Their names are written in the lists of their clans' ancestors. They lived in Jerusalem.
The descendants of Jeiel
35 Gibeon's father, Jeiel, lived in Gibeon town. His wife's name was Maakah. 36 His firstborn son was Abdon. His other sons were Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab, 37 Gedor, Ahio, Zechariah and Mikloth.
38 Mikloth became the father of Shimeam. They lived near their relatives in Jerusalem.
39 Ner became the father of Kish. Kish became the father of Saul. Saul became the father of Jonathan, Malki-Shua, Abinadab and Esh-Baal.
40 Jonathan's son was Merib-Baal. Merib-Baal became the father of Micah.
41 Micah's sons were: Pithon, Melech, Tahrea and Ahaz.
42 Ahaz became the father of Jadah.
Jadah became the father of Alemeth, Azmaveth and Zimri.
Zimri became the father of Moza.
43 Moza became the father of Binea. Binea's son was Rephaiah. Rephaiah's son was Eleasah. Eleasah's son was Azel. 44 Azel had six sons: Azrikam, Bokeru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah and Hanan. That is the list of Azel's sons.
Saul and his sons die in war
10 The Philistines fought against the Israelites.[b] The Israelites ran away, and the Philistines killed many of them on Gilboa mountain. 2 The Philistines chased after Saul and his sons to catch them. They killed Saul's sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. 3 The Philistines were fighting the battle all around Saul. Some of their soldiers saw Saul and they shot their arrows at him. The arrows hurt Saul very much.
4 Saul said to the young man who carried his armour, ‘Kill me now with your sword. I do not want these foreign men to come and be cruel to me.’ But the young man would not agree to kill Saul because he was too afraid. So Saul took his own sword and he threw himself onto it so that he died. 5 The young man saw that Saul was dead. So he threw himself onto his own sword and he died too. 6 So Saul died there, with his three sons. His whole family died together.
7 All the Israelites who lived in Jezreel valley saw that their army had run away from the Philistines. They also saw that Saul and his sons were dead. So they left their towns and they ran away. Then the Philistines came to live in those towns.
8 On the day after the battle, the Philistines came to take all the valuable things from the dead soldiers. They found the dead bodies of Saul and his sons on Gilboa mountain. 9 They removed everything from Saul's dead body. They took away his head and his weapons. Then they sent men through all the country of the Philistines with the news of Saul's death. These men told the news to all their people and to their idols as well. 10 They put Saul's weapons in the temple of their gods. They hung his head in the temple of their god, Dagon.
11 All the Israelites who lived in Jabesh Gilead heard about what the Philistines had done to Saul's body. 12 So all their brave soldiers went to fetch the dead bodies of Saul and his sons. They took them to Jabesh Gilead. They buried the bones under the large tree there. The people in Jabesh Gilead did not eat any food for seven days because they were so sad.
13 Saul died because he turned away from the Lord. He did not obey the Lord's commands. He even tried to get advice from the spirits of dead people. 14 He did not ask the Lord to tell him what he should do. So the Lord punished him with death. The Lord gave the kingdom of Israel to Jesse's son, David, instead.
Be strong as servants of God
12 So we have learned about many people who trusted God long ago. They are like a very big crowd all round us and we should copy their example. We must be like people who run in a race.[a] We must throw away everything that stops us from running well. The sins that we do make us fall down very easily. We must not let those sins rule us. God has prepared the way that is in front of us. We must continue to be strong while we run along that way. We must choose to run that race well. 2 As we run, we must always look towards Jesus. He is the one who trusted God completely. Our faith starts with him, and he will help us to trust God all the way to the end. Jesus accepted punishment on the cross. He chose to receive much pain. He did not think about being ashamed to die like that. He knew that God had prepared something very good for him that would make him happy. Now he has sat down at the right side of God to rule with him in heaven.
3 So think carefully about how Jesus lived on earth. Bad people did very bad things against him, but he continued to be strong. Think about him, and then you will not become weak as Christians. You will not stop trusting God.
4 You have been fighting against sin in your lives. But you have not yet had to fight like that until someone killed you. 5 God speaks to you as his children. Do not ever forget these words in the Bible that will make you strong:[b]
‘My son, when the Lord shows you what is right,
do not easily forget it.
Do not be upset when he punishes you.
6 The Lord does that to everyone that he loves.
He punishes everyone that he accepts as a son.’
7 When you have troubles in your life, you must be patient and strong. Remember that God is teaching you what is right because you are his children. There has never been any son whose father did not punish him. 8 God teaches all his children not to do wrong things. So if he does not punish you, it shows that you are not really his children. Instead, you are like children who do not really belong to him. 9 Also, we have all had human fathers who punished us. As a result, we respected them. So think about our Father that our spirits belong to. We must surely obey him, and then he will give us true life.
10 Our human fathers punished us for a few years. They did this in a way that they thought was good. But God punishes us in a way that will really help us. As a result, we can become completely good, like he is. 11 Punishment never makes us happy at the time when we receive it. No, the pain makes us sad. But later we know that the punishment has taught us good things. It helps us to live in a right way that gives us peace in our minds.
12 So be strong as servants of God! If your hands feel weak, lift them up! If your knees are not strong, stand up straight! 13 Walk straight in front of you, step by step! Your example will help other Christians to serve God well. People who cannot walk well will not become worse and fall down. Instead, their legs will become strong again.[c]
We must not refuse to do what God says
14 Do everything that you can to live in peace with other people. Make yourself separate from bad things. Nobody will see the Lord unless their life is good and clean. 15 Remember that God is very kind. Nobody should refuse to let God help them. Make sure that nobody among you causes trouble so that people turn against God. A person who is angry against God is like poison. He spoils many other people's lives so that God does not accept them.
16 Make sure that nobody among you has sex in a wrong way. Be careful that nobody is careless about God's rules, like Esau was long ago.[d] He gave away everything that he would have received as his father's first son. He gave it all away so that he could get only one meal. 17 As you know, after that, he still wanted to receive those good things from his father. He wanted his father to ask God to bless him. But his father refused to do that. Esau cried very much when he asked his father to give him those good things. But there was no way that Esau could change what he had done.
A picture of two mountains
18 You have come near to God. But you have not come to a place that you can touch, like Sinai mountain.[e] That mountain burned with fire. But where the people stood, it was completely dark. They could not see at all. There was also a very strong wind and a storm. 19 There was the loud sound of a trumpet. There was a powerful voice that spoke to them. When the people heard that voice, they were very afraid. So they asked that the voice would not speak to them any more. 20 They were very afraid of what God had told them. God had said, ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, you must kill it with stones.’ 21 Even Moses was very afraid when he saw God's great power. He said, ‘I am full of fear!’
22 But as believers in Christ, you have not come to God in that way. You have come to Mount Zion.[f] You have come to the city of the true God who lives. You have come to the city of Jerusalem that is in heaven. There are many thousands of happy angels all together in that place. 23 All God's people meet together there. They are like his most important sons. They belong in heaven because God has written down their names. You have come to God himself, who will judge all people. You have come to the place where the spirits of God's people are. Those people have become right with God. God has now finished his work in them. 24 You have come to Jesus, who brought the new agreement from God to his people. In that agreement, the blood of Jesus' death makes us clean from our sins. It tells us that God has forgiven us. When Cain killed his brother Abel, Abel's blood brought God's punishment. So we see that Jesus' blood brought us something much better than that.[g]
25 So be careful! Always be ready to listen when God speaks. God used Moses as his servant on the earth to speak to Israel's people. When they refused to obey, God punished them. They could not get away. As for us, God speaks to us from heaven. So we will certainly not get away from God's punishment if we turn away from him. 26 At Sinai mountain many years ago, God's voice caused the earth to shake. But now God has promised this: ‘Once again I will cause the earth to shake. But this time I will also cause heaven to shake.’ 27 These words, ‘once again,’ show us that God will take away the things that he has made. All things on the earth that he causes to shake will finish. After that, everything that nobody can shake will continue to be there.[h]
28 But we are receiving a place where we will rule with God. We belong to God's kingdom, and nobody can ever shake that! So we should thank God. We should worship him in a way that makes him happy. He is great, and we should serve him well and respect him. 29 Remember that our God is like a fire. He destroys everything that is not good.
God promises to send trouble to his people
6 Trouble is coming to you people who live in Zion and on Samaria's hill. You think that you are safe. You think that you are important people who live in the best nation on earth. Israelite people respect you as their leaders.
2 Go and look at Calneh city. And go and look at Hamath city. Then go and look at Gath city, where the Philistines live. Are your cities stronger than their cities? Do you have more land than they do? 3 You refuse to think that trouble might come to you. But the cruel things that you do are causing trouble to come very soon. 4 You lie on beautiful, expensive beds. You do not work, but you rest all the time. You eat fat young sheep and cows. 5 Like King David, you play music on your harps and you sing new songs. 6 You drink lots of wine. You put beautiful oils on your bodies. But you are not sad that Joseph's descendants are destroying themselves as a nation.[a]
7 You will be the first people that your enemies will take away as prisoners. You will no longer enjoy your feasts and wild parties.
8 The Lord God Almighty has promised that this will surely happen. He has spoken this strong message: ‘The Israelites think that they are very strong. But I have turned against them. I hate their strong buildings. So I will give their great city and everything in it to their enemies.’[b]
9 At that time, if ten people are safe together in one house, they will still all die. 10 When a man comes to carry a dead body outside to burn it, he will ask his relative, ‘Is there anyone with you in the house?’ The relative will answer, ‘No.’ Then the man will say, ‘Be quiet!. Do not speak the name of the Lord!’[c] 11 When the Lord gives his command, enemies will destroy all the houses, great and small. They will break them all into pieces.
12 Horses cannot run on rocks. People do not try to plough the sea. But you Israelites have changed what is fair and honest into something bad. You have made justice seem like poison. 13 You are proud because you won against Lo-Debar and Karnaim. You think that your own strength did that.
14 But the Lord God Almighty says to you Israelites, ‘I am sending an enemy nation to attack you. They will bring trouble to you everywhere, all the way from Lebo-Hamath in the north, to the Arabah valley in the south.’
Mary visits Elizabeth
39 After that, Mary prepared herself to travel. She hurried to a town in the hills of Judea. 40 When she arrived at the home of Zechariah, she said ‘hello’ to Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary speak, she felt her baby move quickly inside her. The Holy Spirit filled her. 42 She spoke to Mary in a loud voice, ‘God has made you very happy. He has been good and kind to you more than to other women. He has also been good and kind to your baby. 43 You are the mother of my Lord and I am not an important person. So it is very good that you have visited me. 44 Listen! When I heard you say, “Hello” to me, my baby moved quickly inside me. He was very happy. 45 The Lord has told you what will happen. And you believed what he told you. Because of that, God has made you a happy person.’
Mary's song
46 Then Mary said,
‘All of me wants to praise God and say,
“Lord, how good and great you are!”
47 I thank God because he is the one who saves me.
48 I know that I am not an important person.
God knows this, and he has been kind to me.
Listen! From now on, all people will say that God has made me happy.
49 Yes, God has done great things for me.
He is very powerful and strong. He is good in every way.
50 He is kind to people who respect and obey him.
He will always be kind to people like that.
51 He has shown how strong he is to do great things.
Some people think that they are very important.
But he has sent them away in different directions.
52 Some people were ruling countries.
But he has taken their power away from them.
He has given power to people who do not feel important.
53 He has fed hungry people with good things to eat.
But he has sent rich people away with nothing.
54 He promised that he would be kind to his people, Israel.
Now he has come and helped them.
55 He made a promise to Abraham and to our other ancestors.
Now he has done what he promised.’[a]
56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months. Then she returned to her home.
John the Baptist is born
57 The time arrived for Elizabeth to have her baby. She had a son. 58 Her family and the people who lived near her heard about her baby. They knew that the Lord had been very kind to her. They saw that she was happy. So they were happy too. 59 When the child was eight days old, people met together to circumcise him.[b] They wanted to call the child Zechariah. This was the same name that his father had.
60 Elizabeth said, ‘No. His name will be John.’
61 They replied, ‘But you do not have anyone in your family called John. That cannot be right.’ 62 So they used their hands to make signs to the baby's father. They wanted to ask him what his son's name should be.[c]
63 Zechariah asked for something to write on. He wrote, ‘His name is John.’ Everyone was very surprised at what he wrote. 64 Immediately, Zechariah could speak again. He could speak easily. He began to thank God aloud.[d]
65 The people who lived near Zechariah and Elizabeth were very surprised. They saw how great God was. Many people who lived in the hills of Judea also talked about all these things. 66 Everyone who heard about these things thought about them. They asked each other, ‘When this child becomes a man, what will he be?’ They could see that God really was with him.
Zechariah's song
67 The Holy Spirit filled John's father, Zechariah, so that he spoke God's message:
68 ‘The Lord God of Israel is a great God.
He has come to save his people. He has come to make them free.
69 He has sent a very strong person who will save us.[e]
This person comes from the family of his servant, King David.
70 Long ago, God promised that he would do this.
He gave his own prophets this message to speak.
71 God will save us from our enemies.
He will save us from everyone that hates us.
72 He has promised to be kind to our ancestors.
He will do the things that he promised in his holy covenant.
73 Yes, he will remember the strong promises that he spoke to Abraham.[f]
74 God said, “I will keep you safe from your enemies.
Then you can serve me and not be afraid.
75 You can live in a way that is good and right.
You can do this all your lives.” ’[g]
76 Zechariah then spoke to John:
‘You, my child, will be called a prophet of the powerful God who is over all.
You will go in front of the Lord to prepare a way for him.
77 You will tell God's people how God can save them.
They have done wrong things but God will forgive them.
78 Our God will forgive us because he is very kind.
He will send someone from the highest place.
When this person comes, it will be like the sunrise for us.[h]
79 He will bring light to people who are living without God.
It is like those people are living in the dark. They are afraid to die.
But he will shine on them.
He will show us how to live so that we will not be afraid.’[i]
80 Zechariah's child grew. God made him strong in his mind. He went into the wilderness and he lived there for many years. Later, God sent him to Israel's people, to teach them.[j]
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